GWU Secretary General on the New Proposals for Work Conditions Regulations

GWU-Youths spoke to Josef Bugeja, General Workers’ Union Secretary General, to learn more about the new proposals and how they can become laws.

Image: Josef Bugeja with (from left to right) Luana Cauchi, Samantha Mifsud and Jasmine Zahra, the GWU-Youths members who conducted the interview.

In August the Equality Ministry introduced new work condition regulations. However, they were suspended just days after coming into effect due to the pressure from employers’ associations—The Chamber of SMEs (GRTU), the Chamber of Commerce, the Malta Employers Association and the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association. GWU-Youth spoke to General Workers’ Union Secretary General Josef Bugeja to learn more about the proposed regulations and how they can be enacted.

GWU-Youth: What are the new legal advices that created the controversy?

Josef Bugeja: These four proposals were discussed separately and for a long time: for example, one was discussed in 2014, another one—in 2016, and another—in 2018, but they were introduced together on 10th August 2018.

One of them is about Annual Leave and how you can use the leave of the past year that you couldn’t utilise. Every employee is allocated 192 hours of leave per year. Those outside of a collective agreement are frequently not allowed to take leave. The employer simply tells the employees that they can’t take leave, doesn’t approve it, and the year after the employees are told that the leave is missed and they can’t utilise it.

The second regulation is about the Temporary Agency. A woman on maternity leave is replaced by a temporary worker who will be doing her job. Every job has its own value and a certain pay rate. This rate would be given to the worker who is filling in for the one on maternity leave. The law of 2003 states that the pay for equal job of equal value should remain equal with the same employer.

When we talk about Transfer of Business, we mean that when a company A loses a tender, it then has to transfer workers to a company B. Or the companies A and B merge and become company C.

Finally, the other regulation is about receiving a detailed payslip. The payslip should include all the details: how much you got paid, what you got paid for, your hourly rate, the form of payment, whether you worked overtime that is between 1 hour and 1 hour 30 minutes or between 1 and 2 hours, if any deductions of tax and to national insurance were made, how much leave have you have taken and how much you have remaining, how much sick leave you have taken and how much of it remains. These rules have already existed, but were not implemented in places which were not trade unionised.

What is the employee going to gain from this?

The obligation of the employer is to approve the leave of his workers; the employer has no right to keep the employee’s leave. If this happens, further actions will be taken and the employer will be changed as soon as possible. This should be a gain for the employee because the leave that was not taken during the year will be added to that of the following year.

One of the new four legal advice proposes to increase the Annual Leave up to 200 hours instead of 192 hours currently—to make up for the public holidays that coincide with the weekends.

The General Workers Union supports workers in their demand to receive a detailed payslip that states their pay, basic rate, overtime, sick leave and tax.

What level of power do the employers have?

Nowadays, we live in a society with a great many different organisations and different interests. The nature of a company is to make profit, but the trade unions seek to reach a compromise between the employer and the employee so that both sides can benefit.

Currently, there is a shortage of workers—the demand for workers on the labour market is much great than supply. That means that today’s situation is to workers’ advantage—much more than it was in the past.

It is unacceptable that whenever employers do not agree with something, they halt the discussions. When they are in crisis, they tend to approach the workers and their representatives, requesting assistance. However, when they are making profit, they do not care and ignore the workers.

What the impact does this situation have on working youths?

In the future, youth workers will certainly benefit from the right of having a payslip. The situation with the leave from the previous year will also be clear—the leave will not be lost, but added to that of the following year.

It is important that today’s youth workers inform the future generations of labourers about the struggle, since the latter will not be aware of it. The youths of tomorrow will have better working conditions and we must encourage them to appreciate the history of these laws. That is if these laws are enacted, they will be of great benefit to today’s and tomorrow’s youths.

How can employees convince the government to side with their interests?

The government should strike a balance between the employers and the workers to consider what’s best for the industry at large. Such a balance needs to be reached through discussions that would establish the fair middle ground, such as, for instance, itemised payslips.

Another move to achieve this fair middle ground, which benefits workers in particular, is to add one more day to employee’s leave if a public holiday falls on a weekend.

The General Workers Union stands for these proposals and encourages the government to find a balanced approach.

How can the union outweigh the employer’s lobby so that the proposed changes become laws?

You can start from lobbying and finish off as a union with protests. The roles of a trade union include representing individual workers as well as groups of workers. Our goal is to improve workers’ rights—that might induce protests, but this depends on how one wants to change things.

It is essential that the dialogue continues so that the rules and regulations are improved. It is also important that we reach compromise by following the laws on the one hand and speaking for your rights on the other.

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